November 7th -8th
Our overnight train was uneventful.  Megan & I shared bunks with Fran and Tim.  the beds themselves were a bit dirty but a little lavender oil to keep the bugs at bay, clean sheet, pillow and silk sleeping bag liner and we are good.  Our train left around 5:30 and arrived in Honoi around 5:00 am.  we had takeout from the hotel, mine was penne and cheese, others had baguette sandwiches, I wanted to play it safe and go veggie.  As soon as we got settled it was dinner time, not much to see on the train as it was dark and raining. I cracked open the pringles and dropped half on the floor, the bottom half were ll smashed...good show.  the train was actually cleaner than expected.  the crew was diligent picking up garbage and keeping the toilet clean; although my timing to the loo was a bit adventuresome and my timing perfect.  first I could not find the one in our carriage as it was tucked behind a door, so I carefully crossed over to the next carriage, by now the train was shaking down the track, me being half asleep just thought then location caused more motion. I opened the door, the toilet seat spotted with the water swishing around in the bowl.  I wiped off the seat, assumed the girly  hover position holding onto the handrail with as little skin to support my body gyrating over the seat and water swishing in the bowl praying i don't get wet.   when I got back to our sleeper and explained my experience Megan and Fran said they also felt the train shake and it was not just the loo.  Fran went in the morning as the train was pulling into the station but came back saying she could not go with people looking at her through the window...hmmm, I did not even notice that the night before..maybe some country mouse got a bit of a show.  I had another crappy sleep, I was hot the cold, the train shook walking me up, twice the train crew opened the door....no snoring and no coughing by anyone in our berth.
we arrived into Hanoi in the dark around 5:30am.  we had 3 rooms to share, shower and clean up before heading to KOTO (know one, teach one) which takes kids off the street and teaches them varies skills in the restaurant business; food was food but coffee sucked, the reoccurring theme here.  Thinh organized a city tour for us right after breakfast, our guide  Bin was in for a treat as most of us were still fairly tired.  Our first stop was Ho Chi Mihn's Mausoleum, the former president, actually wanted to be cremated but despite his wishes he is laid to rest for the world to see.  we lined up, went through security, no weapons, poisons, cameras, you know the usual things people carry around to visit a dead person. visitors are parade around the site while soldiers in white dress uniforms look on... No talking, no sunglasses, no hats, keep you hands beside you,stay in line, don't wonder off the red plastic carpet. tons of little school kids in their uniforms were also there and practiced their English hello, hello, hello.... So it's our turn to view the old guy, a bit surprising he's in an open glass sarcophagus surrounded by 4 guards with their heads down in respect.  As I made my way around his body, I felt his eyes following me even though they were closed. Off to see his homes and his fancy cars.  Lunch at Pho 24 which as kind of bla, then to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology which had some cool stuff on the various ethnic minorities in Vietnam; there was even life size replicas of the various homes of the various tribes.  I got excited as Megan and I are heading to Sapa on Friday to see the villages. the weather is cooling down, today was overcast and was comfortable, first time on this trip. We also stopped at  temple of literature which has massive turtles with tablets which has all the people that attended to study inscribed, when they ran out of space they sanded the old ones and carved the new names.  another sad place we stopped was Hanoi Hilton prison or "Hoa Lo"  or Maison Centrale" .  The hand Hilton was given by American POW's in the 1960's.  it was used as a prison from 1896 to 1994, only a section remains as the rest was demolished to make room for modern sky scrappers.  the prison was interesting as it demonstrated the deplorable conditions and treatment of the french on the Vietnamese.  On the flip side, it showed pictures of American POW's laughing, playing games, exercising, celebrating Christmas, not sure how one sided that actually is.
 Thinh mentioned the flooding in hoi an, all the shops we were just at were under water.  Megan is working hard to keep us safe and have an enjoyable time.